The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (Version 2)

Nicholas Nickleby is a young Devonshire man of nineteen, handsome and hot headed, devoted to his sister Kate and his parents. Following the death of Nicholas’s father, they find themselves penniless, and travel to London to seek help from his uncle, Ralph Nickleby, a heartless, cunning rogue. He grudgingly finds employment for Nicholas in Dotheby Hall, a school in Yorkshire run by the brutal Mr. and Mrs. Wackford Squeers. Appalled at the condition and treatment of the school children, Nicholas rebels, escaping with Smike, a young man/child who has become devoted to him.
Meanwhile back in London, Ralph Nickleby uses his beautiful niece Kate to adorn dinner parties for his disreputable male clientele. He also acquires for her a position as a dressmaker, where she finds herself working under a despotic supervisor.
Nicholas, in search of employment, first tutors children of the Kenwigs family. Later he meets the flamboyant Mr.Vincent Crummles, and along with Smike, joins his theatrical troupe, with a band of hilarious actors. Among his many tasks, he creates posters, adapts scripts and acts in many productions.
Learning of Kate being in peril, he and Smike leave the troupe to come to her aid. Nicholas then meets with the wonderful Cheeryble brothers who help him start a new life with his family and Smike -- but Smike is captured by Wackford Squeers and returned to Dotheby Hall in Yorkshire. Nicholas goes to the school to rescue Smike, and faces off Mr.Squeers, in an unforgettable scene.
In the course of his many adventures, Nicholas falls in love, his sister Kate falls in love, and even the often dotty Mrs. Nickleby is courted by a strange man who flings vegetables to her as tokens of love.
Written when Dickens was himself a young man, Nicholas Nickleby is full of twists and turns, and adventures both merry and tragic, with, as always, many unforgettable characters. (Summary by Mil Nicholson)

Reviews

Lovely story, well read!

(4.5 stars)

Listening to Mil Nicholson is my favourite way to enjoy a Charles Dickens book, and this recording is no exception! The narrator reads so very well, and does the voice of each character in a way that is so memorable! A very wonderful recording!

NICHOLAS NICKLEBY/Nicholson

(5 stars)

librivox populi

Wow. I'm nearly speechless with admiration. It doesn't get any better than this , readers!

Bravo...

(4.5 stars)

uggs

This Dickens novel has everything you would expect to find from the master: melodrama, heroes, villains and ecentrics. Not my favourite novel but Mil Nicholson' s narration had me coming back for more. Magnificent reader. I love the audacity of the villains! Thank you Mil ...

Another great classic

(5 stars)

Lin

Another great classic by Charles Dickens. Great plot full of interesting and unforgettable characters. It was so beautifully bought to life by the narrator, her voice is mesmerising and she took on each character with great passion, very well done.

exceptional

(5 stars)

I think that this is perhaps my favorite Charles Dickens book. The reader of this particular version is exceptional, and I hope to listen to other Charles dickens novels spoken by this excellent reader. The pacing is perfect, and the voices given to the characters are on point. Well done Nicholson!

(5 stars)

A joy to hear all the wonderful characters brought to life so vividly, a pleasure in every way. The story both humorous and unexpected at times and all set right in the end, I was sorry to see it finished.

Brilliantly read.

(5 stars)

Josephine

well I thought throughout the reading that the narrator was male but friends insist they think it's a female. Anyhow, whoever you are Mil, you read the book brilliantly

Great reader!

(4 stars)

lanternland

Not my favorite Dickens book, but the reader, Mil Nicholson, is most excellent!